Nonstationary gravitational lenses and the Fermat principle

Abstract

We apply Perlick's (1990a) rigorous formulation of the Fermat principle in arbitrary spacetimes to prove the correctness of the description of gravitational lensing by gravitational waves, given in the literature using the scalar and vector formalisms. We obtain an expression for the time delay due to such nonstationary lenses; the advantage over previous papers is that Perlick's formulation of the Fermat principle is very rigorous and more suitable for practical calculations in some cases. It is also shown that ordinary moving gravitational lenses must be considered as a stationary case.